NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When a backdoor cut layup clangs off the rim and fails to fall through the twine, you know it is just not your night and it was not the Lipscomb men’s basketball team’s night against rival Belmont falling 94-64 on Wednesday night at the Curb Event Center.

“Belmont was a better team tonight than the first time we played them,” said Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander. “Being at home for them makes a little difference but it was a little bit of everything that made it a much different game than we saw 12 days ago.

The Bruins (4-1) stifling defense disrupted the Bisons (2-3) scoring attack as Belmont held the purple and gold to a tepid 34 percent shooting. The rim must have looked like a hula hoop on the other side of the floor however as Belmont shot a blistering 56 percent bolstered by 48 points in the paint.

“Belmont is such a rhythm team and when things are going their way they are just about as good as anybody,” said Alexander. “We could never sustain anything. We could never put two or three stops together or get two or three scores to settle ourselves down. So they dictated the game for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor I felt like.”

“J.C.’s a good player,” said Alexander. “We talk a lot about this but in addition to scoring points and making flashy plays, he’s got to be a leader on our team. He’s got to make sure we know what defense we’re in and we’re matched up right. That’s all part of the role of a point guard and that’s where his learning curve has to occur. The quicker he does that, the better our team is going to be.”

Belmont’s Evan Bradds led all scorers with 19.

The Bisons continue road action in the “Volunteer State” on Monday with an in-state battle at UT-Martin. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. with the game set to air on 94.9 Game 2.